The Monster in the Arena
by June Odyssey
Summary: Nico and Percy have been imprisoned in a colleseum-like situation; forced to fight for their lives against monsters and anyone desperate enough to attack a human on command. Warnings for violence! Set after Blood of Olympus. NOT Percico!


**Disclaimer: I Don't Own Percy Jackson**

**Warning: A lot of violence! Please, please don't read if you're under 13!**

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"MY PEOPLE!"

Percy opened his eyes at the all too familiar harbingers of dread. From his spot in the shadows he looked up at the iron bars of his prison. No light spilled through the opening. It never did. His cell was always shrouded in darkness, but Percy could still see the dusty arena beyond in the bright sun-like light.

"YOU HAVE COME FOR EXCITEMENT... ENTERTAINMENT... AND **BLOODSHED**!"

The crowd screamed and cheered in confirmation.

"AND TODAY WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL GUEST!"

Percy sighed and drew one knee up, propping his arm on it and resting his head against the cold wall. Fantastic. Another 'special' spectator. He removed his gaze from the doorway to the bright arena and fixed it on the dark opposite wall. Would they make him bow before them again? Or... you know, try to make him bow. Last time he'd ended up on the ground with extra blood and bruises. His defiance had seemed to amuse them. And the lady (although barbarian was a better term, in Percy's oh-so-humble opinion) whom they had wanted him to bow to had seemed exceptionally pleased with his attitude. Percy shivered when he remembered the way she had looked at him, like he was a particularly talented dog.

"JOINING US FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT... OUR ESTEEMED LEADERS, KING THOMAS AND QUEEN LISSA!"

Once again the crowd roared in approval, clapping and cheering, probably on their feet with excitement. Mildly disgusted (though not at all surprised), Percy snorted, rolling his eyes. The crowd—so easy to please, so eager to please.

"NOW WELCOME OUR REIGNING CHAMPIONS!"

That was his cue. Not wanting to be dragged out of his cell (again), Percy climbed to his feet and took four slow steps up to the cell door. Exactly on time, the guard yanked open the door.

"PERCY JACKSON, SON OF POSEIDON!"

Percy uncapped Riptide and glared back at the guard as he closed the cell door behind him. He fought down the irritating urge to kill the guard just to be difficult. As he locked eyes with the teenager directly across the arena, Percy had to remind himself of his resolution. He wouldn't let them get to him. They would not succeed in turning him into a killing machine, an obedient dog, like the monsters they pitted him against. Well, him and...

"NICO DI ANGELO, SON OF HADES!"

The crowd applauded, and Nico gripped his stygian iron blade tightly in his left hand, pressing his mouth into a thin line. His black hair hung low over his grim face as he met his fellow captive's gaze. Percy knew what that look in his eyes meant. No new openings. No new escape plans. The two of them were still stuck in this rotten hole.

Growling under his breath, Percy glared up at their tormentors. In the box up on the stands Liam smirked down at Percy, his blue eyes shining with malicious enjoyment from under his brown fringe.

A scowl (one that would probably soon be permanent Percy's inner Mom chided) fixed itself on his face and Percy averted his gaze.

"LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!"

The crowd collectively cheered, waving their hands or clapping them.

Percy took a moment to shift his glare to the announcer, something that he saw Nico copy in his peripheral vision. Then he focused.

On both sides of the circular arena, at the halfway points between Percy and Nico's cells, two iron bar doors opened and released a torrent of frightened slaves and desperate men. But Percy and Nico didn't move. They knew that they weren't the real threat. So they waited.

The two groups of forced fighters crashed into each other, putting on the 'good show' that their audience so desired.

Percy and Nico waited.

The men who were clearly better fighters dominated the bloodbath, but no one took any notice of Percy and Nico yet. So they waited.

Then one slave saw Percy and broke off from the mob, maybe thinking Percy might be easy pickings. The slave attacked clumsily and Percy ducked, easily blocking each swing. When the slave flung his sword wide, trying to take off Percy's head, the demigod stabbed him clean through the heart and he died almost instantly. The poor slave slumped to the ground, and Percy stepped back, waiting.

Across the arena, through the dwindling mob of men, Percy glimpsed Nico similarly dispatching an attacker. Then he too stepped aside and waited. Men fell left and right in the center of the dusty arena, collapsing under the slashing blades of the few skilled men in the group.

Then everything paused. Not literally, mind you. Not like when Kronos exercised his power over time. But for a moment the fighting died. Six men stood victorious over the bloodbath. Each of them held their weapon of choice skillfully—four swords, an axe, and a spear.

Percy knew what happened next. These men now had an offer, one given to all slaves in the arena. Kill one of the 'champions' and they earned their freedom and their lives. It was either that or be killed by Liam and his men if they failed to die or win in the arena.

By wordless consensus the six broke off into even halves; three for Percy and three for Nico. Neither demigod worried about those men. Where was the real challenge? The next monster that just might tear them to shreds or the next 'champion' who wished to try their hand at the thus far undefeated demigods.

Percy forced himself to focus on the three men circling him, but keeping a bit of his attention on the rest of his surroundings. He had learned early on that Liam would try to surprise him and Nico by springing the monsters on them when they least expected it, so both had learned to keep half an eye on the rest of the arena.

But still, Percy watched the slaves with a critical eye. He waited patiently for them to make their move, watching their body language. With ridiculous ease Percy saw how the three of them flicked glances at each other and came to a silent, terribly obvious plan of action. All at once the three men lunged, maybe thinking that overwhelming him was their only chance. But Percy wasn't there to be hit, because he had seen their actions before they acted.

Before their two swords and one axe could come within five feet of him, Percy ducked to the side and put a good ten feet between them, keeping his eyes on the three men. With their quarry gone the three men skidded ungracefully to a stop, their blades knocking against each other and one of them nicked another in the side.

A fierce glare decorating his features, the man who had been nicked lunged at the man who had done the deed and swung his axe wildly at him.

The third man ignored them and charged Percy. But he had little skill compared to Percy, who had been trained by far more experienced swordsmen. Every time he swung, Percy easily blocked. Despite his hopeless odds the man would not back down, and Percy knew he would have to kill him. Another life taken because they believe they had two choices; kill or be killed. Gritting his teeth in anger at Liam for thrusting this necessity on him again, Percy knocked the sword out of his hands and sunk his sword cleanly into the man's heart. The man dropped to the ground and Percy looked up to see one of the other slaves felled by the man he had accidentally pricked with his sword.

Across the arena Nico was still engaged with two beefy slaves.

Then Liam at last released the real show. The floor fell in dangerously close to Percy's feet and he scrambled back immediately. Two seconds later a familiar monster jumped out of the hole and tried to take Percy's head off.

Instinctively Percy ducked as the monster sailed over his head, and whirled around, falling back in a stable fighting stance. The monster was a manticore, which Percy had come across before in the form of Dr. Thorn. It was in its monstrous form with a lion body, human face, and scorpion tail.

The remaining slave of the three who had gone for Percy stared with wide-eyed fear at the manticore and backed away slowly. However, his movement only attracted the manticore's attention, and the beast swung its head around to lock his eyes on the tasty morsel. Before the slave could do so much as scream the manticore leaped forward and crushed the man's neck in its jaws.

The axe dropped from his lax grip, and the manticore released him to focus on the other people in the arena. Its gaze locked on Percy, and the half-blood turned and ran to the other side of the arena, luring the monster closer to the others. The beast followed willingly, with saliva dripping from its grotesque human-like face.

Nico was still battling one of the slaves when Percy reached them but his fight ended rather abruptly when the manticore charged toward them, jaws wide open and showing off its three rows of teeth. Nico nimbly rolled out of the way but the slave met the same fate as the last—the manticore's mouth and a broken neck.

During the moment that the monster was occupied with the slave, Percy came up next to Nico and tried to remember how to kill a manticore. If memory served, its fur was as invincible as a Nemean lion's, but everything else was fair game.

A moment later the manticore turned around and fixed two glittering eyes, one brown and one blue, on the duo. Knowing that the 'real show' was about to begin, the audience, which had hitherto been cheering happily, surged to their feet. A few of the people began chanting, "FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT."

Percy glanced at Nico while the manticore sized them up, pacing a slow, wide circle around them. "Any ideas?"

Nico followed the manticore's progress, turning his whole body to follow the beast's circling. "Its tail throws poisonous darts. If it makes good use of it then we might want to focus on that first."

"Mhmm." Percy knew that already, having met a manticore before. He repositioned himself so that he and Nico were back to back and the manticore was always in sight of at least one of them.

"But a hard blow to the face is going to be what kills it," Nico continued, warily eyeing the rest of the arena. It wouldn't surprise either of them if a second monster popped up out of the floor.

The manticore decided it was done waiting and it sprang forward.

Percy dove left, and Nico dove right, the manticore's claws barely missing their shoulders. The manticore's landing kicked up a cloud of dust, and Percy and Nico stepped farther apart, the manticore between them, to avoid getting dust in their eyes. The monster snarled and went for Percy, its shark-like teeth barred.

Percy slashed at the monster's approaching face but the manticore deftly dodged the strike and instead rammed into Percy's chest. The two of the bowled over and the monster pinned Percy beneath it. Instinctively Percy rolled to the right as much as the space between its front paws allowed. Where Percy's shoulder had been milliseconds ago the manticore's stinger stabbed the dust.

Briefly wishing he could stab straight up through the monster's iron-furred belly, Percy pulled Riptide out from under the monster where it was still grasped tightly in his hand and swung at the tail. The manticore jerked it out of reach, only to have it lopped off by Nico's pitch black sword.

Screeching bloody murder, the manticore scrambled back and glared at Nico like it was imagining the worst torture to put him through before it killed him. Unfazed, Nico gripped his stygian iron blade comfortably in two hands.

Before he could get up, the ground under Percy's head dropped out and he cursed in Ancient Greek, scrambling to his feet and spinning around to face whatever new monster Liam had unleashed on them.

An _empousa_ stormed up the ramp created by the floor, looking enraged at having been imprisoned for so long. Most monsters were. That's why they immediately attacked the nearest outlet for the anger, usually Percy and Nico, and the crowd got their entertainment.

Her glittering red eyes attached themselves to Percy and she snarled in a most unlady-like fashion.

Lovely. Absolutely fantastically lovely.

Percy raised Riptide and glanced over his shoulder to make sure Nico was alive and the manticore wasn't about to eat either one of them.

The _empousa_ took the moment to lunge forward, talon-like fingers outstretched. Percy jerked Riptide up to block her and she barely dodged in time to keep her sickly white hands. She attacked like that several times, abandoning each time Percy blocked.

Eventually she pulled back and tried to look calm, which was pretty hard when your hair is flaming but she partially managed it.

"Little demigod," she charmspoke, her image flickering into a beautiful woman with red hair like Rachel's and Greek chiton than back into an _empousa_. "Don't fight me."

Unfortunately for her, Percy had a lot of practice resisting charmspeak and was not in the mood to be seduced and eaten. He ignored her words and took advantage of her moment of confidence, lunging forward and slashing Riptide at her chest.

The _empousa_ stumbled backward, narrowly avoiding the celestial bronze but avoiding it all the same. Percy advanced again and again, driving the _empousa_ across the arena, which, sadly, had no corners to trap her in. He kept pushing and she just kept dodging.

When they were within twenty feet of the curved wall part of the dusty arena floor dropped again, this time directly under Percy's feet.

A gasp from the crowd followed Percy as he tumbled down the ramp. The fall left him momentarily disoriented, long enough for the Nemean lion that waited there to lunge and clamp its jaws down on Percy's left arm.

Pain shot up Percy's arm and he involuntarily yelled out.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, Nico was there, stabbing his stygian iron blade through the gap between the lion's teeth and through its lower jaw.

Roaring, the lion released Percy's arm and shuffled backward in pain.

Nico grabbed Percy's uninjured arm and dragged him up the ramp. Percy staggered after him, noting with worry that Nico had a bloody tear through his T-shirt and deep into his skin from the top of his right shoulder to the middle of his chest.

At the top the manticore and the _empousa_ had engaged in a brief skirmish but lost interest in each other when the demigods reappeared. The _empousa_ sprang at the two of them as soon as they cleared the ramp. She successfully dodged Nico's swing and only to get a stomach full of celestial bronze. The _empousa_ screeched, showing off her fangs for the split second before she shattered into dust.

A growl behind them alerted Percy and Nico that the Nemean lion had recovered from its shock and the manticore stared hungrily at them. The two demigods of them made a quick synchronized decision to break right, backing hastily to the middle of the arena and away from the monsters.

The Nemean lion bounded out of the pit and positioned itself next to the manticore. The two beasts stalked toward the two boys; the Nemean lion like he wanted to finish his meal and the manticore like he wanted to finished his duel.

"Your shoulder okay?" Percy asked in low tones without taking his eyes off the monsters.

The crowd was silent, all holding their breath, wondering what would happen next.

"As bad as your arm," Nico responded, keeping his eyes fixed on the Nemean lion and the manticore.

Percy winced. "That bad?"

The two monsters broke off from their direct approach to walk a large circle them, putting Percy and Nico in a similar position as earlier; back to back, watching the lion-like monsters circling them.

"I'll live," Nico said.

And that was pretty much the most positive thing either of them could say in the arena.

In front of Percy the Nemean lion tensed and Percy knew he was going to pounce. Ignoring the jolt of pain up his left arm, Percy snatched the sleeve of Nico's black T-shirt and pulled them both to the ground.

Nico hit the dirt with a surprised, "Ooomf!"

Percy landed painfully on his shoulder, but it was better than being shredded.

The pick-up truck sized Nemean lion flew over top of them and landed on the other side of Nico, bumping into the manticore and startling the other monster, who had been readying himself to attack as well.

Nico and Percy scrambled to their feet as the manticore and the lion turned on them with blazing eyes. This time the monsters sprang at the same time, the manticore for Nico and the lion for Percy.

Percy dodged to the side, but the gigantic lion was not fooled again. It followed Percy's movement and raked its silver claws down Percy's chest, shredding his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt but thankfully not making too deep of a cut. That didn't mean it didn't hurt like hades though.

Percy stumbled back. The lion crouched low and Percy could see easily over its back. Nico gave the manticore a shallow cut across the face, not enough to kill it but certainly enough to make even more mad than before.

But then his attention was centered again on the tall lion. It opened its jaws, showing off its steel fangs, and roared angrily at Percy, who stabbed forward at the open maw. The lion snapped its jaws shut as soon as it realized what Percy was doing and used its tire-sized paw to swat away Percy's hand, knocking Riptide out of his grasp and scratching down his lower arm.

Percy had scarcely computed the fact that he was not holding his sword anymore when the lion thrust its huge paws against his chest and sent him sprawling ten feet away in a cloud of dust. As the Nemean lion stalked confidently toward him, Percy looked around wildly for his sword and spotted it twenty feet away, glittering on the dusty arena floor.

Cursing his luck, Percy staggered to his feet and backed away from the lion towering too close to him for comfort. Now he was weaponless. Bloody fantastic.

The Nemean lion rumbled happily, seeing how defenseless its prey was.

Riptide was even farther away now with a hungry monster separating them. Percy scanned the floor of the arena and saw the axe laying next to its dead wielder. It was a good ten feet to his right but at least there wasn't a truck-sized lion between him and it. Lurching away from the lion, Percy ran to the axe and scooped it off the ground.

It definitely wouldn't _ever_ be his weapon of choice, but it was the only deadly weapon available. The lion leaped toward him, covering the fifteen feet of separation with ease. This time Percy stood his ground as swung the flat of the axe against the lion's huge head. The axe shattered on impact, sending shockwaves of pain up Percy's arm, but the blow was enough to knock the lion aside and it did not land on its feet.

The crowd cheered.

Percy reached his hand into his pocket for Riptide but it wasn't there. Cursing in Ancient Greek again, Percy spared a glance at Nico just in time to see him victoriously cleave open the manticore's skull and the monster crumble to dust. Unfortunately, that meant that Percy didn't see the Nemean lion pounce on him. He felt it though.

They landed with Percy's chest pinned under one colossal paw. The lion snarled deep and vicious, digging its silver claws into his skin. Percy gasped but didn't attempt to remove the paw, he knew that was hopeless.

A desperate cry of, "_PERCY_!" rebounded off the arena walls, somehow heard above the deafening roar of the crowd.

Percy's vision tunneled as he thrust his hand into his pocket, praying that Riptide was there now. Ah, the Fates were smiling down at him (or at least not scowling anymore). Percy pulled the pen out of his pocket just as the Nemean lion opened its giant maw to take Percy's head off.

Percy was pretty much out of ideas, so he had just one option left to end this. With one hand he deftly flicked the cap off the pen and threw Riptide up into the lion's throat. The pen extended into the sword and the lion suddenly stilled, the length of the blade protruding from the back of its head.

The lion disintegrated, leaving its skin behind. Riptide _thunk_ed softly against the dirt floor.

Percy exhaled a very relieved breath, and then inhaled a deep calming one.

"Percy!" Nico dropped to the ground next to his friend. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alive," Percy grunted, and Nico helped him sit up.

They couldn't say anything else because as soon as Percy was upright the crowd went wild again, screaming and cheering. They had been sufficiently entertained. The two demigods glared at the box with King Thomas, Queen Lissa, and Liam in the stands. The king clapped, looking very pleased indeed while the queen clapped a little slower, staring down at Percy and Nico like they were pieces of meat.

Liam grinned down at them and mouthed, 'good show.'

Percy felt anger build up in his chest and saw the same hate on Nico's face.

"We can't keep doing this," Nico said, barely heard over the noise.

"But we can't get out," Percy countered. "We've already tried everything and it hasn't worked."

The expression on Nico's face darkened and Percy's stomach dropped like a stone. He wasn't going to like this. "Not _everything_."

Percy frowned. "What do you mean?"

But Percy knew what he meant.

Nico knew too, but he said it anyway. "Control the water in their bodies."

"No!" Percy exclaimed. "I-I can't. I won't. I promised Annabeth. I'm not a monster."

"We don't have any other choice. The others _aren't_ going to find us!" Nico said.

"No," Percy repeated.

Nico looked up and Percy followed his line of sight to see the king and the queen enter the arena with Liam.

Turning back Nico grabbed Percy by the shoulders and hissed, "You have to, Percy."

Percy locked eyes with Nico's brown, almost black, ones and saw the firm resolve there.

"Please don't make me," he whispered, hating how scared he sounded.

For a moment Nico's cold expression faltered, but it was back within a second. _"Do it."_

Percy bit his lip until it bled and closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind for water in the bodies of the hundreds of people surrounding him. He wanted nothing more than to fold in on himself and block out the feeling of the water in their bodies. Water that he could control, turn against them. But he steeled his resolve and willed the water to flow the wrong way, to boil, to _hurt_.

As the people began gasping, screaming, and crying Percy's heart twisted painfully inside his chest.

"What's happening?!" one woman screamed.

"It's them! It's THEM!" a man accused, pain coloring his voice.

"STOP THEM!" an authoritative voice commanded.

Percy felt some of the bodies move closer, advancing toward the two demigods regardless of the pain. His reaction was totally instinctive, and that scared him more than anything. With his mind he reached and, for lack of a better term, _yanked_. The bodies smashed to the ground, wailing in pain.

"Percy, get up," Nico ordered softly.

Tentatively Percy opened his eyes and let Nico help him up, snatching Riptide up as he stood. His hands trembling, Percy gripped Riptide in a fist so tight his hand ached and his other hand clenched on Nico's T-shirt sleeve in a white-knuckled grip. He could practically feel his strength flowing out of him.

Nico seemed to understand and kept one arm around Percy's back, firmly grasping the back of his orange shirt and keeping the other boy steady. "Release the king and queen and Liam so I can talk to them."

Percy did, as well as loosening his hold on the audience. Nico might be able to do the talking and thinking but he definitely couldn't carry Percy if he passed out. So kept just enough of a hold over them to keep them in extreme discomfort but not pain.

"Let us go," Nico demanded calmly. "And you might walk away from this alive."

The king and the queen both flicked nervous glances at the four guards that Percy had taken down. Were they dead? Percy didn't know and, quite frankly, he didn't want to know.

Liam narrowed his calculating blue eyes at the two of them and said, "You won't kill us. You have to much of a conscience for that."

Nico returned the glare. "I wouldn't bet on that. I am the son of Hades after all, the god of _death_."

Everyone look even more nervous after that reminder. That is, everyone except for Liam.

"Then you would have already killed us all," Liam said, a smug expression covering his features. "But you haven't. So we can only assume tha–"

Percy cut him off. He reached out toward the water in Liam's body and twisted viciously. Liam's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the dusty arena floor, writhing in pain and screaming soundlessly. His face scrunched up in agony, his fists clenched, and his brow was already coated with sweat.

Exactly ten seconds later, Percy realized what he had done. He immediately released Liam and tried not to let his face show just how horrified he was. He had done that _without thinking._ Maybe he really was a monster? A monster masquerading as a half-blood. It made sense, explained why he was such a natural killer.

Regardless, the display worked. The king and queen regarded Percy and Nico with real, undisguised fear – a look that was like a dagger to Percy's heart.

"Go," the king ordered, his voice shaking ever so slightly.

Nico didn't waste time. He pushed Percy forward with the hand on his back and directed them toward the gates. The guards hastily unlocked the doors and started putting distance between them and the two half-bloods. Nico pushed through the doors and strode the well-worn road away from the arena.

When they were roughly a hundred feet away Nico told Percy, "You can let go now."

Percy obliged without question and his knees almost buckled once the burden was relieved.

Instead of continuing down the road Nico pulled Percy off the road into the shade of a huge tree. It had a thick trunk probably six feet wide and a full collection of leaves, forming a thick canopy overhead. Nico guided walked toward the darkest part of the shade, right up next to the trunk and they melted into the shadows.

**The end?**

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**A/N: So, first stint into the Percy Jackson fandom. How did I go, guys? I don't remember how they killed the ****manticore in Titan's Curse, or even if they killed him at all, so if anybody knows could you tell me?**

**First question: What do we call ourselves? The Olympians? Half-bloods? I looked a few up and I have to admit I'm partial to the Jackson Junkies and the Jackaholics, but I wondered if there is a general consensus here.**

**Second question: Do you guys want more of this? Because I don't have much of anything planned beyond what you see here.**

**Last question: Will you review? Pretty please? :D**

(Note to my other readers: I have not abandoned Atlantis or Merlin, I promise! I'm just getting distracted.)


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